Meat+Poultry - April 2023 - 38

SMALL BUSINESS MATTERS
" When the business was growing and we
saw the need to build the new plant in 2014, we
did the dumbest thing possible ... we tore the
whole plant down and built the new one on the
same footprint, " he added. " That meant that
we were out of business until the completion
of construction. But fortunately, we are a
seasonal business and there was no production
activity going on with our company from
April to the end of that summer. It worked
out somehow. "
Brett said the seasonal aspect of Blue &
Gold Sausage Co. also got them through the
chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic.
" Schools were closed, and it was suggested
that people stay home, " he said. " The worst
part was over the summer when we were not
operating. We had orders for about a quarter
million pounds of product that we had to get
out. Some of it was a month late, but we found
ways to fill those orders. "
Blue & Gold Sausage's production line's
workforce is another unique quality of
the company.
Top: Don Ramsey and
Willadean Ramsey,
founders of Blue & Gold
Sausage, pictured with
processing room employees
in the early 1980s.
Bottom: The original plant
was torn down in 2014
and replaced with a new
30,000-square-foot facility.
standards are met. This has allowed Blue &
Gold to market its program into Arkansas,
Texas, Missouri and Kansas, within their 250mile
delivery radius.
Both Brett and Greg are graduates in
agricultural economics from Oklahoma State
University, and they joke that they shied away
from things like basket-weaving courses for
their electives to spend time at the meat lab
learning more about processing livestock.
While the plant started operating in 1970,
the brothers agree that expansion is a neverending
process.
" We learned that when you live on a
farm, children are expected to be part of the
workforce as soon as they are able to help in
any way, " Greg said. " We didn't have a meat
processing background and neither did Dad.
He said years into the sausage business that he
didn't know that much about it. "
38 MEAT+POULTRY | 04.23 | www.meatpoultry.com
" About 50 employees are retirees or semiretired
and like to keep busy and supplement
their incomes, " Brett said. " We continue to
offer those seasoned workers 500 hours a year,
and many of them being retired military bring
unique trade skills that can prove very helpful
with our machinery. "
So, it's clear what simplicity has meant
to the success of Blue & Gold Sausage Co.
Still, the business requires a bit more finesse
than that.
For example, when customers get their
orders, they get to participate in an incentive
program. Points earned by a customer group
result in a $100 gift card. The incentive
program tops off at 3,500 points, where the
fundraising group receives four $100 gift cards.
On the website you'll spot another notable
feature the company likes to refer to as sharp
marketing. With each product available on
the fundraising menu are recipes, many of
them submitted by those who purchased the
products from a fundraising customer group.
The sharp marketers at Blue & Gold picked
up on the fact that items like their sausage
could be used as a meal centerpiece, as an
appetizer, side dish, a chili ingredient and
more. Imagine that ... new and novel ways to
use their product beyond breakfast.
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Meat+Poultry - April 2023

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